Can Branson fill ole Hef's slippers?

Is Virgin Buying Playboy

Will Richard Branson become the new Hugh Hefner?

International rumors are abound that Richard Branson, charismatic Mogul founder of Virgin Records, may be taking over the stable of  O.G, Old-School Mogul Hugh Hefner.

Well, if anybody can fill Hugh’s slippers, its Sir Richard.

Allegedly the purchase price is floating around $300 million USD, despite the fact that the market cap for Playboy Enterprises (NYSE: PLA) is currently only $82 million.

The New York Post reports that this $218 million price discrepancy is supposed to make sure ole’ Hugh gets to “maintain his lavish lifestyle.”

Although one of Hugh Hefner’s homes is on the market for nearly $28 million there is still main Playboy mansion and its tremendous upkeep to consider. He remains the editor of Playboy magazine and has said he wants to pass down his interest in the company to his teenage sons Marston and Cooper. – The Luxist

The Business Standard on Playboy Magazine:

In its heyday in the 1970s, the glossy magazine with its bunny girls was read by a quarter of university students but the rise of the Internet, and with it — free pornography, has taken its toll on the magazine’s sales.It is still America’s best selling men’s magazine — and Hefner and his scantily-clad bunny girls are still a regular fixture on the party scene. But sales have dropped from seven million an issue in 1972 to around three million now….. profits slumped in the face of free pornography on the Internet.

“Profits slumped in the face of free pornography on the Internet”?

With that sort of simplistic thinking flying around the ether, it would be a good thing for some one like Branson to take the reigns rather then a soulless cadre of deposed Lehman Brother number crunchers.

I mean…there’s always been a glut of smut on the market. People that just want to gawk at pictures of neked ladies have always had plenty of options.

But Playboy was more then just a skin rag.  Playboy was the original men’s lifestyle concept magazine.

The Bunnies, the Mansion parties, the slippers and the smoking jackets sold fantasies to men living drab and monotonous lives. Playboy and James Bond introduced…invented the concept of the international, sophisticate-extraordinaire status many men have claimed yet few have owned.

Marketers and promoters today are still riding off the Playboy motif. My favorite example are the Dos XX commercials, “The Most Interesting Man.” That guy even looks a little like Hugh Hefner.

I’m not surprised that Playboy’s bottom line is sagging. The print magazine is currently experiencing a period of mass extinction from various reasons ranging from Internet advertising competition (oh yeah…why don’t you click a link and buy something while you’re on my site) to the Recession. Is Playboy suffering more disproportionately than the rest of the sector?

Critics are itching about “…the company is burning through cash” with the implication being made that Hefner’s lifestyle is predominantly to blame.

Playboy sells lifestyle, not coal lumps or metal fastening pins.

I hope the deal with Branson goes through , not that Branson has never screwed anything up (he’s no virgin there) just that he has the fingerspitzengeful to save Playboy’s bacon.

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